Highly stable PGM-free cathode catalyst paper published

Members of the Pajarito Powder technical team and professors from the University of New Mexico contributed to an article published in the Journal of Power Sources.

“Highly stable precious metal free cathode catalyst for fuel cell application,” will appear in the September issue of the academic publication.

The highlights of the article touch on the highly stable PGM-free synthesized cathode catalysts and how their morphology influences activity and stability.

The abstract details the nature of the findings:

“A platinum group metal-free (PGM-free) oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst engineered for stability has been synthesized using the sacrificial support method (SSM). This catalyst was comprehensively characterized by physiochemical analyses and tested for performance and durability in fuel cell membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). This catalyst, belonging to the family of Fe-N-C materials, is easily scalable and can be manufactured in batches up to 200 g. The fuel cell durability tests were performed in a single cell configuration at realistic operating conditions of 0.65 V, 1.25 atmgauge air, and 90% RH for 100 h. In-depth characterization of surface chemistry and morphology of the catalyst layer before and after durability tests were performed. The failure modes of the PGM-free electrodes were derived from structure-to-property correlations. It is suggested that under constant voltage operation, the performance loss results from degradation of the electrode pore structure, while under carbon corrosion accelerated test protocols the failure mode is catalyst corrosion.”